Recommended Links and Places

Users of Google Earth can download this file,
which contains a large number of placeholders for locations associated with Wallis, his work, his weapons and the people who used them.

Main Wallis collections

The Barnes Wallis Foundation (BWF) (formerly the Barnes Wallis Memorial Trust (BWMT)) has an excellent collection of
Wallis-related artefacts and memorabilia. Artefacts include Upkeep, Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs, part of a Highball
and part of the Highball carrier from a Mosquito. Formerly at the Yorkshire Air Museum, Evington, the collection is currently in
storage pending transfer to a new location - the Trust's Upkeep is now on display at the
Newark Air Museum. The Trust holds an annual meeting in
Howden, Yorkshire, with a presentation on a Wallis-related topic.

The Brooklands
Museum, Weybridge, Surrey (which was near the Vickers factory) has
Wellington bomber N2980 "R for Robert" recovered from Loch Ness in 1985 and now
fully restored.
Some of Wallis' bombs are on display including an Upkeep, Grand Slam, Tallboy and (uniquely)
a Tallboy Small (the 4,000lb version used for trials); one of the Highballs recovered from Loch Striven in July 2017 will be on display soon -
this means that the museum has an example of every type of Wallis-designed bomb. The museum also has a (mostly)
Weybridge-built Concorde G-BBDG.

The RAF Museum at Hendon
had on display the only other complete Wellington remaining (MF628), the one seen taking
off in The Dam Busters film (the aircraft is currently at Cosford undergoing extensive refurbishment).
Hendon has a reconstruction of Wallis's
office with original artefacts, a box of model bouncing bomb prototypes of various forms,
and an Upkeep. They also have a Grand Slam bomb on display, and
their Cosford site has another Grand Slam. The museum also has a link of anchor
chain from Tirpitz, which was
sunk by Tallboys in November 1944, and a painted bulkhead from the ship (which
was repeatedly taken as a trophy by 9 Squadron and 617 Squadron from each other). Other Wallis artefacts and papers are
held in storage.

The Science Museum Library
at Wroughton, near Swindon, holds the Barnes Wallis papers, a large collection of Wallis's scientific papers, which he donated to the
museum shortly before his death. Note that this site is very difficult to get to by public transport, and although there is a lovely
reading room on the site, you will need to pre-book your visit, including which files you wish to see.

Bouncing Bombs - Upkeep/Highball

Unless otherwise stated, all of the following were recovered from Reculver, Kent, where test drops were conducted in 1943.

The Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial at RAF Manston, Kent, has a
bouncing bomb on display - the dimensions suggest it is the core of an early Highball.

The Seaside Museum, Herne
Bay has a small prototype Upkeep on display in its Dambusters
exhibition (this is the same size as the one at Manston above, so is either an
early prototype or (more likely) the core of a Highball)

The Petwood Hotel, Woodhall Spa,
Lincolnshire, was the officers mess for 617 Squadron later in the war. It has a
small museum to the squadron, and a (damaged) Upkeep in the grounds.

The Ringwood Town & Country Experience in
Hampshire has an Upkeep. Unlike those above, this is a reconstruction from
original parts recovered in 1984 from the
nearby Ashley Walk bombing range, where trials took place in 1943 to test the
use of Upkeeps dropped on land. The Upkeep at RAF Lossiemouth (see above) came from this source too.
It appears that this museum has now closed down.

The Swannery
at Abbotsbury in Dorset, has a prototype bouncing bomb on display; this was
recovered from the Fleet (the lagoon between the mainland and Chesil Beach)
where many of the early drop tests were carried out; this same bomb was
previously on display at
Portland Museum which was founded in 1930 by Dr. Marie Stopes - by coincidence, Stopes's
son married Wallis's elder daughter!

The Upkeep carried by Barlow on Operation Chastise failed to self-destruct
and was recovered intact by the Germans, allowing them to work out a detailed
specification and build their own version - does anyone know where this bomb
is now?

One of the Upkeeps dropped at Ashley Walk in the New Forest
was recovered in 1984 by the Royal Observer Corps, and part of the end plate was
cut into 617 parts and sold for charity (these parts have been selling for
around £150 on eBay!) - does anyone know where the remainder of this bomb
is now?

The Kelham Island Museum in Sheffield
has a Grand Slam on display; the bomb casings were cast in Sheffield, where the
local steelmen referred to it as "the big bastard"!

There is a Tallboy on its nose at the former Holton le Clay Railway Station near Grimsby; it can be clearly seen on Google Street View and appears to have a replica tail; thanks to the Airfix Tribute Forum for spotting this one.

There is a Tallboy at the Belgian
Army base at
Meerdaal (near Leuven), Belgium.
This bomb
was recovered when the reservoir
of the Urft Dam (attacked unsuccessfully by 617 Squadron and 9 Squadron in December 1944) was drained in the 1950s; the Belgian Explosive Disposal Ordnance team was
based at nearby Vogelsang (now in the Eifel National Park) and disarmed
the bomb, claiming it as a trophy. When the Belgians left the German site in
2005, they took the bomb with them and erected it as a monument at their
Meerdaal site in June 2006; the tail cone is a replica.

There is a Tallboy in the grounds of the
Heligoland Museum, believed to be an original bomb with a replica tail. Some craters from the Tallboys and Grand Slams dropped on the island in April 1945 are still visible.

There is a
Tallboy at the
Pakistan Air Force Museum at Faisal (near
Karachi), Pakistan. This bomb was probably carried by 617 Squadron during its Far East
deployment just after the war and left behind - does anyone know a more detailed history of this bomb?

The
Nanton Lancaster Society Air Museum
at Nanton, Alberta, Canada, has a
Tallboy on display -
this one is a replica (and the tails were never silver!). The
museum also has a link of anchor chain from Tirpitz, which was
sunk by Tallboys in November 1944.

Can you help with more information?

Does anyone know what happened to the Tallboys
(dropped by 9 Squadron in October 1944) which were recovered intact from the Sorpe reservoir in 1958 and defuzed?

Does anyone know the location of any fragments of exploded Tallboys or Grand Slams in museums or private collections?

Other Items

The Wellington Aviation Museum
at Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, has a pair of Wellington (or Warwick)
wheels and a propeller
outside and
the tail of a Wellington (said to be L7775)
inside;
the Lincolnshire Aircraft Recovery Group also have
parts from the same aircraft, including the wings.

The Aviation Artefact
Museum, part of the
Armstrong Museum within Bamburgh
Castle, Northumberland, covers many aspects of military shipbuilding and
aviation. The collection includes geodetic structure from Vickers-Armstrongs
Warwick HG136 which crashed on a nearby hill in 1946, and many other aircraft parts (mostly from local
crashes), as well as a T-1 bombsight and computer (though it is incorrectly
labelled as a Mark XIV bombsight and computer).

The Flambards Experience in Helston, Cornwall, has a number of
aviation-related displays, including a small display of items related to Wallis and his time at Predannack
(which is 5 miles from Helston).

On a building in Barrow-in-Furness, where Wallis worked on airships, there is a
plaque to commemorate his work.
The building is within the site of BAE SYSTEMS though the plaque can be read from the public highway
[map].

Wallis lived for most of his life at White Hill House, Beech Avenue, Effingham, Surrey
[map]. This house is still there (now called Little Court), though it is no longer in the hands of the Wallis family. His grave is in the grounds of St. Lawrence Church in Church Street, Effingham [map].

During his formative years, Wallis lived at 241 New Cross Road
[map]
[image] in London - the house has a
plaque on it commemorating its most famous resident.

A little further west off New Cross Road are Wild Goose Drive
[map] and Swallow Close
[map],
named in honour of Wallis's post-war designs. On Wild Goose Drive, there is the
Barnes Wallis Community Centre.

The
Eder Dam Museum is housed in one of the former power stations at the base of
the dam. The museum has a full-size
replica Upkeep,
as well as a model of the dam after the raid, and other wartime memorabilia (my
thanks to Tony Knight for this link).

617 Squadron were originally based at RAF Scampton where there is a
small museum
with some Wallis-related items - this includes a Highball, which was recovered
at Reculver in 1977 and, after 30 years in Amsterdam, found a new home at
Scampton in 2007.

The model of the Möhne Dam seen in The
Dam Busters film is one of the originals used for the wartime tests, and it still exists at the
Building Research Establishment in Hertfordshire; the model is now a listed
building and can be visited by prior arrangement with the BRE.

The
Derwent Dam in Derbyshire
[map]
was used by 617 Squadron for training for the dams raid, and there is a
small memorial at the dam. No actual "bouncing bombs" or other practice bombs were ever dropped here (or at any other British reservoirs).

Wallis conducted some static explosives trials on a disused dam at Nant-y-Gro in the Elan valley [map]; these
showed that the small model test results would scale up as predicted. The remains of the dam (which was
breached in the trials) can be visited, and it is included in the
Elan Valley walk
promoted by the Royal Geographical Society as part of its “Discovering Britain” series (click on the "Downloads" tab
for written and audio guides to the walk).

Several Tallboys and a Grand Slam were dropped on the bombing range at Ashley
Walk in the
New Forest, and the sharp-eyed can still spot these craters, as well as part
of the submarine pen target which was buried after the war but is starting to
uncover.
Atlantikwall has some good photos of what's left of the various targets.

After the war, Wallis conducted model flying experiments with his Wild Goose and
Swallow designs at
RAF Predannack in Cornwall. The models were launched from a rocket-powered
rail sled and remotely-controlled by radio. The rails ran parallel to the main
runway, crossing the other runway, although the latter was later returned to
use.
Atlantikwall has some good photos of what's left of the
rail track and the rest of the airfield; access to the site is possible when no
flying is taking place.

On 15th November 2008, a statue of Wallis was unveiled in Herne Bay, looking across towards Reculver where the "bouncing bombs" were tested.

Britannia Airways operated a
Boeing 737 G-BGYJ named Sir Barnes Wallis; it first flew in 1979.

There is a Barnes Wallis Close in Effingham [map], Boscombe Down
[map],
Weymouth [map] and
Melksham [map],
a Barnes Wallis Drive in both Telford
[map] and
Byfleet
[map], a
Barnes Wallis Court just round the corner from there in Oyster Lane, Byfleet
[map]
and another in Welton near Lincoln
[map], a
Barnes Wallis Avenue in Horsham (overlooking Christ's Hospital, where Wallis went to school)
[map], a
Barnes Wallis Road in Fareham
[map]
(near Brunel Way!) and a Barnes Wallis Way in both Gloucester
[map] and
Redcar [map].
Do you know of any others?

Although it has been stated in print and online that the "Flight Shed" at Longbridge in Birmingham had a roof designed by Barnes Wallis, this appears to be an "urban myth" and there is no evidence to support this (please e-mail us if you know otherwise). The building (on the corner of Lowhill Lane and Groveley Lane) was demolished in 2011.

Although it has been stated in print and online that the former large hangar at Eastleigh Airport in Southampton (now part of the Ford factory) had a roof designed by Barnes Wallis, this also appears to be an "urban myth" as there is no evidence to support this either (please e-mail us if you know otherwise).

If you know of sites of interest to Wallis enthusiasts which are not listed here, please e-mail us and we will add it here.

Recommended Further Reading on Barnes Wallis

Brickhill, Paul, The Dam Busters (Evans Brothers, 1951) - the classic story of both the Dams Raid and 617's other wartime missions, although some of the detail is incorrect

Cooper, Alan, The Men Who Breached the Dams (William Kimber, 1982) - a more detailed story of the men of 617 involved in the Dams Raid

Cooper, Alan, Beyond the Dams to the Tirpitz (William Kimber, 1983) - about 617's later raids, including the Tirpitz attack

Curtis, Des, Most Secret Squadron: the Story of 618 Squadron (Skitten Books, 1995) - the story of 618 Squadron and Highball, by a wartime member of the squadron

Euler, Helmuth, The Dams Raid: Through the Lens (After the Battle, 2001) - a detailed look at many aspects of the Dams Raid, with many excellent photos; focusses more on the German side than other books

Falconer, Jonathan, The Dam Busters (Sutton, 2003) - a good general book on the Dams Raid

Flower, Stephen, A Hell of a Bomb (Tempus, 2001) - a detailed story of all of Wallis's bombs, and the missions when they were used

Gibson, Guy P., Enemy Coast Ahead (Michael Joseph, 1946) - the classic story of the Dams Raid and Gibson's earlier exploits, by the man himself

Holmes, Robin, One of Our Aircraft: the story of ‘R for Robert’ the Loch Ness Wellington (Quiller Press, 1991) - the story of how Brooklands' Wellington was recovered from Loch Ness and restored

Lumsden, Alec, Wellington Special (Ian Allen, 1974) - a good history of the Wellington and its variants, with many unusual photos

Morpurgo, Jack E., Barnes Wallis (St Martin’s, 1972) - the classic Wallis biography, focussing more on the man than his work; also available in paperback (Penguin, 1973) and in a revised edition following Wallis’s death, which has an extra two pages (Ian Allan, 1981)

Murray, Iain R., Bouncing-Bomb Man: The Science of Sir Barnes Wallis (Haynes, 2009) - a review of the scientific and engineering aspects of Wallis's whole career from airships right through to hypersonic aircraft.

Pugh, Peter, Barnes Wallis: Dambuster (Icon, 2005) - more readily available than the Morpurgo biography, this adds very little to the older work and has pages devoted to the Avro Manchester and TSR.2 which are largely irrelevant

Shute, Nevile, Slide Rule (William Heinemann, 1954) - a good read about Shute's time with Airspeed, it also has a large section on his time building R.100

Stopes-Roe, Mary, Mathematics with Love (Macmillan, 2005) - the story of Wallis's courtship, conducted by way of a correspondence course in maths, as revealed by letters between Barnes and Molly

Sweetman, John, The Dambusters Raid (Cassell Military Classics, 1999) - the definitive story of the Dams Raid; also available in several other editions

Sweetman, John, Tirpitz: Hunting the Beast (Sutton, 2000) - the definitive story of the air attacks on the Tirpitz, including the three Tallboy raids

Ward, Chris, Lee, Andy and Wachtel, Andreas, The Dambusters: the Definitive Story of 617 Squadron at War 1939-1945 (Red Kite, 2003) - another excellent history of all of 617's wartime missions